Page 13 of Evan (Big Hot Alphas 11)

I scroll back down to the most recent text he sent me—the one from today that I ignored.

Hey –I’ve got a gig downtown tomorrow night and I’d love for you to come. If I don’t see you or hear from you, this will be the last time I contact you. Promise.

My fingers type out a message to him without having to give it a second thought.

Chapter Eight

Rose

The following night, when I arrive at the club that Evan’s band is playing at, I’m shocked to see a line winding completely around the block. I knew his band was getting popular, but this is beyond anything I’d imagined.

Instead of getting in line, I head to the backstage door, as Evan told me to do. There’s a huge tattooed doorman standing guard there, keeping a group of girls from crowding the door. The girls grumble as he waves them off.

After a quick check of the list, the doorman hands me a paper pass to hang around my neck and opens the door for me.

“Third door on the right,” he says in a gravelly voice.

Down the hallway, I find the door ajar and peek my head in. Evan is sitting in a dressing room by himself, fiddling with an acoustic guitar. He’s playing a song I don’t recognize, totally absorbed in what he’s doing.

Damn, he’s sexy when he’s singing.

Especially when there’s no one he’s performing for.

I lightly clear my throat to get Evan’s attention. He glances up and a smile breaks over his face when he sees me.

“You made it.” He pushes the guitar to the side and crosses the dressing room in a few quick strides. When he reaches me, he looks like he wants to wrap his arms around me and give me a hug, but he restrains himself.

“I did,” I say. “Hey, I need to apologize again for not responding to your texts. That wasn’t cool of me.”

“It’s okay, Rose.”

“It’s really not.” I chew on my lip as I look up at him. His eyes are kind as they stay focused on me. “This is embarrassing to admit, but I was convinced you were a different type of guy.”

“And what type did you think I was?”

“A girl-crazy type.”

“I see.”

“It was because of the whole musician thing, as well as some stuff Courtney has said over the years. And, I mean, youdidtake two girls to your senior prom…”

He laughs. “I knew that was going to follow me around for years. It was their idea, not mine. I guess they got in some big argument about both wanting to go with me, and that was their solution, to share me. I dunno. I just went along with it.”

“So you didn’t hook up with both of them?” I say, then immediately grimace. “I’m sorry. That’s none of my business.”

“I didn’t hook up with them. Even my dumb eighteen-year-old self knew that would have been sleazy as hell.” He cocks his head slightly to the side. “So what kinds of things has Courtney said about me, exactly?”

“Oh, just…about you having tons of girls flinging themselves at you, that kind of stuff.”

“Ah.”

“But I talked to her yesterday, and I know the truth now. I know you aren’t the kind of guy to take advantage of it.”

He nods. “Did you tell her about us?”

Us. God, I love the sound of that word coming from his lips.

“I did,” I say.

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